The Realm Past the Horizon of Merethin is a mammoth, environmentally stunning nation, ruled by Iris with a fair hand, and remarkable for its museums and concert halls, smutty television, and devotion to social welfare. The compassionate, democratic, cheerful population of 5.565 billion Merethinians enjoy a sensible mix of personal and economic freedoms, while the political process is open and the people's right to vote held sacrosanct.

The enormous, outspoken government juggles the competing demands of Education, Industry, and Administration. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Merethin City. The average income tax rate is 98.8%.

The frighteningly efficient Merethinian economy, worth a remarkable 1,095 trillion golden coins a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. The industrial sector, which is highly specialized, is mostly made up of the Information Technology industry, with significant contributions from Book Publishing and Tourism. Average income is an impressive 196,908 golden coins, and distributed extremely evenly, with little difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

The government spends more on chasing distant comets than on basic infrastructure, a well-funded social safety net protects the unfortunate, social media sites prompt users to send birthday greetings to unresponsive nonagenarians, and celebrities sit helplessly as they are labeled "pompous womples" by Iris. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Merethin's national animal is the axolotl, which frolics freely in the nation's sparkling oceans, and its national religion is Star Sister.

Merethin is ranked 3,482^nd in the world and 8^th in Starlight for Most Cultured, scoring 193 on the Snufflebottom-Wiggendum Pentatonic Scale.